The marketing alone for “Ant-Man” was cause for concern. You can’t seriously pass off a film with that kind of title. Luckily, the 12th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is more than just a generic origin story. It’s all about the heist.

Paul Rudd stars as Scott Lang/Ant-Man in Marvel’s last superhero film, ”Ant-Man”. (photo courtesy of Marvel Studios)

Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is a cat thief. Once an idealistic engineer who exposed a corporation’s corrupt practices, he’s now a recovering criminal for hire. But nobody wants to hire an ex-con, so he came out of retirement. Unfortunately, his maiden voyage lands him in the middle of something unexpected. That was Dr. Hank Pym’s (Michael Douglas) plan all along.

You see, Hank, once the superhero Ant-Man, needs a thief, so he created an elaborate ploy to force Scott into helping him steal something dangerous. For years, Hank hid his Pym Particles — technology that allows organic objects to safely shrink to ant size — from his protégé Daren Cross (Corey Stoll), but the crazy dude figured it out on his own and now plans to sell his Yellowjacket tech to the highest bidder. Hail Hydra!

So with the help of Hank’s estranged daughter, Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lily) and Scott’s team — Luis (Michael Peña), Kurt (David Dastmalchian) and Dave (T.I.) — the past and present Ant-Men unite to break into a well fortified scientific facility. But to accomplish this, Scott must learn how to control the Ant-Man suit, fight and bend ants to his will.

This is a heist film with superhero flair. They scout the target, get a guy on the inside and train for the big day. Sure, all the superhero origin story tropes are there — learning to control powers, family struggles, etc. — but it’s more a film in which you half expect a cameo by Danny Ocean. That’s until the finale; of course there’s a showdown between Ant-Man and his shrinking doppelgänger.

Rudd is a fantastic cast as Scott Lang, though the role is entirely within the actor’s wheelhouse. And while Douglas is an odd choice for Hank Pym if you know the comics, the veteran star plays the aged superhero and scientist well. But the real standout performance belongs to Peña as Scott’s fellow heister Luis. He goes through more character development than anyone else on screen, and he easily has some of the funniest and only gags you’ll remember.

Michael Douglas appears as Hank Pym/the former Ant-Man, in Marvel’s new summer film. (photo courtesy of Marvel Studios)

I must admit some disappointment with the treatment of Hope. Lily does what she can with the character, but the writers and director go out of their way to sideline her. Throughout Scott’s training, she’s the clear choice to don the Ant-Man suit. She’s a better fighter and has more control over the tech, but Hank fears for his daughter’s life. The explanation is trite and sentimental, even for a Marvel film. For such a strong character, she’s underused.

In many ways, we should be past many things that happen in “Ant-Man”. While I disagree with the severity of other critics who claimed Black Widow’s primary role in “Avengers: Age of Ultron” was one of romance, it’s difficult to see much hope for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s treatment of women based on this film.

And then there’s the villainous Darren Cross, played by Stoll (“House of Cards”, “The Strain”). Sadly, “Ant-Man” serves as another example of a Marvel film with a dull villain. So far, we’ve got Loki and the Winter Soldier as awesome villains, and only one of those two is a viable option for future films.

I get it. The “X-Men” and “Fantastic Four” properties have some of the best villains, and Disney doesn’t have control of them yet (Fox has the films rights for now). Marvel Studios only recently regained control of “Spider-Man” and its enormous menu of big bads. Still, it’s hard to understand how every villain feels the same: no motivation, no clever banter, no diversity of casting.

“Ant-Man” is a lot of fun, but I must say it’s a tad formulaic. The only reason Marvel green lit this project was because of Edgar Wright (“Shaun of the Dead”, “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”). He fought to bring this project to life for so long, but when Marvel execs wanted to make changes to include cameos, he left. I can’t help but wonder what was lost.

This is a troubling story for many future Marvel films. Just follow the story about finding a director for “Black Panther” to see it play out in real time. The question becomes, will Marvel ever allow a director’s vision to drive the story, or only its continuity with other films?

A fun romp and a refreshing take on superhero fodder, “Ant-Man” is a welcome addition to a franchise that shows no signs of downsizing. Hopefully, they’ll remember to tell great, varied and quirky stories and learn to ascend the mechanics of the Disney machine.